Latest: The International Award for Young People

On February 19th, 2011, 6 members of ON THE SPOT signed up as participants to pilot The International Award for Young People – an exciting internationally recognised self-development program available worldwide for young people aged 14-25. This will be the first time for youth here in Tonga to participate in the Award Program.

The Award concept is one of individual challenge. It presents to young people a balanced, non-competitive program of voluntary activities which encourages personal discovery and growth, self-reliance, perseverance, responsibility to themselves and service to their community.

The Award Program was first introduced in 1956 in the United Kingdom as The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. It was designed with great care by a small team including Dr. Kurt Hahn, German educationalist and founder of Outward Bound and the United World Colleges; Sir John (later Lord) Hunt, the leader of the first team to conquer Mount Everest; and led by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1956, the Program has developed and grown internationally, now reaching young people in over 130 countries around the world.

There are three Award levels each requiring increasing time commitment and effort to complete. These are Bronze, Silver and Gold – which can be achieved in 6, 6, and 12 months, respectively.

Within each Award level, the Program asks participants to have goals set under four sections:

(1) Service: To develop a sense of community and social responsibility

ON THE SPOT – a Tonga based youth NGO – was approved in January 2011 by the International Secretariat for the Award Program (London, U.K) to operate the program for young people here in Tonga. ON THE SPOT will be supporting the first 6 participants to achieve their Bronze Awards before offering the program to the wider community.

It is hoped that this Program will encourage young people here in Tonga to be able to look beyond barriers, and to set goals, not limits. The challenge is for young people to make things happen rather than waiting for things to happen for them.

For further enquiries please contact Ms. ‘Ana Kolokihakaufisi, Award Unit Leader/ Youth Development Director, ON THE SPOT (Inc), Tonga, at email address akolokihakaufisi@gmail.com or via mobile number (676) 7708353. Please also reference the Award Program website at www.intaward.org